Analyst Note
| Ioannis Pontikis, CFA |Nestle reported a first-quarter sales update that included strong organic growth of 7.7% (real internal growth of 6.4%, pricing of 1.2%) significantly ahead of company-compiled consensus estimates of 3.3%. Growth continued to be supported by the retail channel (at an elevated level--up high single digits in the first quarter versus 6.8% and 8.6% in the fourth and third quarter of last year, respectively) due to robust demand for at-home consumption, with the out-of-home channels remaining negative but improving, and e-commerce sales growing 39.6% (now 14.5% of total group sales).